Saturday, December 31, 2011

That's essentially the plot for the Johann Strauss operetta DIe Fledermaus (The bat). There's of course love, flirtations, drinking and the great music of Strauss! What else could you ask for?

Austrians have a long tradition of welcoming the New Year with a performance of Die Fledermaus. Musical sentiments like "Glücklich ist, wer vergisst, was doch nicht zu ändern ist..." ("Happy is he who forgets what can't be changed...") and the story of a masquerade ball make this popular Operetta appropriate for the New Year. A New Year's performance of Fledermaus is also a tradition in Prague, in neighboring Czech Republic, as well as in many other parts of the world. English versions of DIE FLEDERMAUS by John Mortimer, Paul Czonka and Ariane Theslöf, or Ruth and Thomas Martin (and other translators) are performed frequently in the US and other English-speaking countries.

This is my first ever “year in review” post, and all I can say is “what a year it’s been!”

At the end of 2010, I don’t even think the thought of blogging was even in my mind. I can’t rightly say that there’s anything in particular that got me started, other than my passion for music. Twelve months later, I have over 80 posts to my credit, over six web platforms, and we’ve put together well over 100 playlist and audio montages – be they podcasts or YouTube playlists or general mashing together of openly-available music sources.

I have created enough content that merely googling “itywltmt” gives us well over 2000 results! Some of my November/December stats are shown below...

The things I take away from this year (nine months, really) of blogging

Th biggest take-away for me is that “I belong”. I belong to a large community of internet music lovers, that I communicate with on a daily basis in both of my languages of predilection. If I add-up my “followers” on YouTube, here on ITYWLTMT and my cyber-friends on TalkClassical and MQCD Musique Classique, I have almost 30. I have to think many of them cross over many of my platforms (I know that for a fact). Sure, I wish that there were fewer anonymous visitors to my platforms, but the relationships I have built over such a short time have been very meaningful, very supportive, and have allowed me to explore surprising areas of the blogosphere and musical cyber-community.

In addition to my cyber-friends, I am read by hundreds of people all over the world, which (as I expressed a few months ago) is in itself both wholly satisfying and very humbling! Hopefully, there will be more readers, more friends and – dare I say it again – a lot more feedback on what I write and what I do on my platforms.

What’s Up for 2012?

Here are some teasers:

In january, our ITYWLTMT pianothon;

Momntage #50 is scheduled to happen on April 6th, which is itself the fiftieth anniversary of a notorious concert...

We will have a summer series - like our Summer of the String Quartet last year - featuring chamber or solo instrument works (More on that in die course...)

We will have some anniversary posts - Debussy's 150th birthday, Glenn Gould's 80th, and the 75th anniversary of the passing of both Gershwin and Ravel (among others...)

Once we hot our 50th montage milestone, I figure I may dust up some of the montages that are in the vault for us to enjoy again.

What is Today’s YouTube Playlist?

Back in May, when I started “broadcasting” on YouTube, I opened a special playlist “ITYWLTMT’s Video Favourites”, a video scrapbook of odd duck videos that I have featured at one time or another in my blog, that didn’t quite fit in a dedicated playlist. This video scrapbook has mostly Classical favourites, as well as some “funny bits” and other stuff. I was surprised to see that I had about 5 hours worth of video clips in that playlist!

When I reviewed the clips, it allowed me to remember some of the posts I published here and elsewhere, going as far back as my “Internet Graduation Recital” of early June, and all the way to some of my December posts.

I will “close” this favourites playlist, and start a new one for 2012…

Happy New Year 2012!

Statistiques/Statistics

(Overall Traffic /Fréquentation globale)

(Time spent per visit / Durée des visites)

NOTE: About 75% of visits last less than 1 second / environ 65% des visites durent moins qu'une seconde

Saturday, December 24, 2011

To kick off my Twelve Days of Blogging, I have chosen a very special TDMH post, which takes us back exactly 60 years to the Golden Age of Television, that has double significance:

The first ever installment of American television's longest (and still) running anthology series; and

The first performance of a treasured holiday classic, which was played (sometimes twice a year) on American television for more than 15 years

The anthology seies is the Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the classic is Gian Garlo Menotti's made-for-TV opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors.

It would be a disservice of me to even try and tell the story of the curious circumstances that have preceeded and followed this historic broadcast - the referenced article Three Kings in 50 Minutes does an excellent job of doing so, providing not only the history, but also some anecdotes about network television in the Golden Age. It is well worth your while to read this article.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the piece, it is a one-act opera, sung in English, that tells a sort of Holday Tale taking place in the Holy Land around the time of Christ's birth. As the title suggests, a young cripple shepherd (Amahl) and his mother are visited by three Kings (the very Kings of the Gospel) on their way to see the Blessed Child. As in any good tale, there is a good mix of tragedy and magic, along with a miraculous and fitting ending. Saying more (if, indeed, you have not seen this opera) would spoil everything.

The kinescope reel that we will watch today is from the original broadcast - it was believed to have been lost, but thankfully was found at the Museum of Television & Radio. It should also be pointed out that a cast recording with the original players was made not long after and is still available on CD - it is a recording I personally own and still enjoy to this day.

The broadcast opens with a spoken introduction by Mr. Menotti (index cards in hand), followed by the entire opera. After a final word from the sponsor, the remainder of the broadcast is filled by carols sung by a boy's choir - probably the Columbus Boys Choir which Chet Alen belonged to at the time. Unfortunately, the kinescope ends abruptly (consider yourself warned).

The libretto is not available openly on the Internet - however you may click here for a script that was put together by a listener.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

As of February 3rd 2012, this montage will no longer be available on Pod-O-Matic. It can be heard or downloaded from the Internet Archive at the following address / A compter du 3 février 2012, ce montage ne sera plus disponible en baladodiffusion Pod-O-Matic. Il peut être téléchargé ou entendu au site Internet Archive à l'adresse suivante:

When I was an Undergraduate in Montreal in the early 1980’s, I befriended some of the student orchestra members whoèd rehearse at the old Loyola Refertory during the lunch hour - it was on my way to my Complex Analysis class... I would make a point of attending the Concordia Orchestra concerts. Sherman Friedland, one of Nadia Boulanger’s many students, was the conductor and he did what I thought wa a good job, piecing together a new line-up every year, with students and a few “local community musicians” – be they non-music faculty members, or local residents.

Concordia was (and still is, I believe) a university with a strong commiutment to continuing education, so many of the courses offered were night courses. The Orchestra “course offering” was a typical two-hour evening slot on Monday nights. I figure they probably had some rehearsals outside of that, but I imagine that the orchestra didn’t rehearse more than 5 hours a week – consistent with my daughter and her High-School wind band that used to require “band practice” two afternoons a week, with the odd ad-hoc rehearsal.

Anyhoo, one season – I think it was their first concert of the year), they had programmed an all-Beethoven concert: with a faculty member from another University playing the “Emperor” concerto, and the Fifth Symphony after the intermission. Though I thought they did a good job overall, the famous “3 G’s and an E-Flat” motif was, well, rather forgettably performed. It lacked the unison, and from that point forward (and, yes, Maestro Friedland played the repeat) the movement was mostly a train wreck. The man sitting next to me, when the piece was over and the audience showed their appreciation, simply said: “What did you expect? This isn’t the Berlin Philharmonic!”

I like to think what I heard that night can’t be much different than what greeted our patrons in Vienna on the evening of 22 December 1808 – the hall was cold, the musicians hadn’t much rehearsed, they were led by a man who (by all accounts) wasn’t a “traditional” conductor and a new work, requiring such uniuty and precision to make its opening statement. Since nobody had heard it before, maybe there wasn't quite as much disappointment as there was almost 200 years later at the quaint chapel of the Loyola Campus, but still...

[A] grand, very elaborate, too long symphony. A gentleman next to us reassured us that, at the rehearsal, he had seen that the violoncello part alone covered thirty to forty sheets. Of course, here, the note writers do not any less understand how to 'extend' pieces than in our parts do the court scribes and law clerks.

After the Sanctus and Benedictus for soloists, choir and orcestra, Beethoven improvised at the piano"a long fantasy, which Beethoven showed his entire mastery".

It is unclear what that "fantasy" was... Some claim it simply was the solo piano introduction to the Choral fantasy (which Beethoven would not have yet committed to paper), or maybe it was another piece altogether. Not knowing quite what he played, I chose to insert his op. 77 fantasy for solo piano.

Finally, the Choral fantasy:

The wind instruments varied the theme, which before, Beethoven had played on the piano. Now it was the oboes' turn. The clarinets--if I am not mistaken!--miscounted and set in at the same time. A peculiar mix of tones emerged; B. jumped up and tried to silence the clarinets, however, he did not succeed until he called out quite loudly and rather angrily to the orchestra: Silence! This will not do! Once more--once more! and the praised orchestra had to accommodate him and play the unfortunate Fantasy again, from the beginning--!

And, in spite of it all, most of the works played on that fateful night survived their première, and are considered to this day some of Beethoven's most memorable works!

Friday, December 16, 2011

This montage is no longer be available on Pod-O-Matic. It can be heard or downloaded from the Internet Archive at the following address / Ce montage n'est plus disponible en baladodiffusion Pod-O-Matic. Il peut être téléchargé ou entendu au site Internet Archive à l'adresse suivante:

On a personal note, later today I will be undergoing some laser therapy for my eyes. Nothing invasive or serious, they say... Oh well - wish me luck!

Next week will be the astrological beginning of winter. Not that the weather here in Canada waits for the the axial tilt of Earth;s North Pole to reach its furthest point from the Sun to start. To date, nothing too nasty, but we will get our fair share of cold weather, snowfalls and ice...
Ice means skating and (ice) hockey, Canada's national sport and passion. Not that hockey eaits for winter - seems there's hockey around here year round, with professional hockey season starting in October and ending at the end of June!

I just couldn't resist slapping together a YouTube playlist of favourite hockey moments, showing off the likes of Gordie Howe, Rocket Richard, Bobby Orr, and two of Canada's most memorable hockey moments: Paul Henderson's "goal of the century" from 1972 and Sidney Crosby's "Golden Goal" from the 2010 Winter Olympics. These hockey clips are bookended with two renditions of Dolores Claman's 1968 classic "The Hockey Theme", which is known in these parts as Canada's second National Anthem.

Back to the music

Waldteufel's Skater's Walyz opens our tribute to winter. Russians also kow something about winter, ask Glazunov and Tchaikovsky.Rimsky-Korsakov's Snow Maiden may not necessarily be about winter, but he does provide some memorable music from that opera, including the Dance of the Tumblers.

How about a ride in the show, curtosy of Mozart and Leroy Anderson?

A couple of Four Seasons: first, our seasonal taste of the Louis Kaufman set of Vivaldi concertos:

... and a less heard version - a ballet from I Vespri Siciliani by Verdi themed "Le quattro stagioni".

In addition to two French pieces inspired by snow from Debussy, some (French) Canadian favourites: André Gagnon's Neiges and Gilles Vigneault's Mon Pays.

I think you will love this music too, especially in front of a warm fire!